The deputies increased their salaries from 2025 and now they decided to resolve in favor of the Workers Union of the Congress of the Republic (Sintracor), whose economic benefits were increased.
This is according to a public announcement made by Sintracor authorities in the Lost Steps of the Legislative Palace, listing at least nine direct benefits for workers.
Until now, Congress has not officially shared the document approved in favor of the union members, but sources from that organization who prefer not to be cited explained that the recommendations were from a labor court.
The Sintracor collective agreement has been in force since 2005, but the decisions of the legislative authorities, headed by Congressman Luis Contreras, president of Congress, renew the working conditions in favor of the largest union group in parliament.
Now, Congress will have to allocate Q8 million to comply with a bonus for the legislative employee, which will be Q4 thousand for each of the workers.
It will also have to allocate Q3 million 800 thousand to comply with the increase of Q250 that each worker receives for a seniority bonus, according to the figures announced by Sintracor.
Another item that increases in Congress expenses, for an amount of Q1 million 600 thousand, is due to the increase in the vacation bonus, which goes from Q600 to Q800.
Legislative employees will also have to have a day off for the anniversary of their union, which will be established for every October 22, according to the details of Sintracor.
No evaluation
For Manfredo Marroquín, director of the Citizen Action organization, in many union negotiations the authorities in power usually give in without evaluating future financial impacts in detail.
“Practically we have a policy of giving in to the demands of the unions, it is a burden on the budget that is going to come that they do not care about,” Indian.
For the expert, it is prudent for institutions to keep workers in good conditions, but he highlights that it is necessary that any benefit be authorized with justified cause.
“Here there should be a performance evaluation to see who really deserves to have better remuneration, but when it is that way it is a policy without control, without measuring results,” he remarked.
Another aspect that Marroquín highlighted is the way in which this renewal comes about in the union conditions of parliament, which comes just a few months before a new call for elections and a future political campaign.
“It is a 100 percent clientelistic practice that is being done with the workers. The one who pays the most for that payroll is the citizen, there is no evaluation involved, the budget is getting bigger and bigger to produce the same thing, which is nothing for the people of Guatemala,” he pointed out.
They imitate deputies
For Percy Méndez, independent analyst and labor lawyer, it is to a certain extent “normal” for unions to seek to improve their economic conditions, since they have seen the way in which deputies have decided on public resources.
“Congress and its deputies have taken a big bite, they practically tripled the salary and that allows the union entity to say that, if there are funds, they also ask for improvements, because in the end it is the Congress workers who do the job,” Mendez highlighted.
For the analyst, not all workers deserved to have better benefits, since there are some who are only there for political negotiations, without making a significant contribution to legislative production.
“We continue in the collective agreements suffering from a big mistake, which is that we continue to leave the evaluation of performance on the one hand, we have people in Congress because one day they were deputies,” he pointed out.
Méndez also sees a certain clientelistic burden on the part of the Legislature to renew working conditions, which, although good, highlighted that many may not fulfill the functions for which they were hired.
“I remember that they had a long time without renewing the workers’ union, but it’s good that it was possible, but they are looking for seasons to have the Congress workers as good friends. It remains to measure whether there are workers who work for what they were hired for, but it is not very wise to do so at a pre-electoral moment,” he concluded.
Posture slope
Sources indicate that one of the deputies who actively participated in the negotiations is Deputy Juan Carlos Rivera, secretary of the current Board of Directors.
He said that he was willing to provide a statement, as long as it related to a medical issue, but until now it has not been possible to have contact with the legislative authority.
The Social Communication unit of Congress was also consulted about how long the collective agreement negotiations had been going on, on what dates the benefits began to apply, and if there was any performance evaluation of the workers, but no response was obtained.
The benefits
- Legislative employee bonus, Q4 thousand which means Q8 million
- Seniority bonus had an increase of Q250, meaning Q3 million 800 thousand
- Vacation bonus goes from Q600 to Q800, meaning Q1 million 600 thousand
- Death aid goes from Q2,500 to Q8,000
- The nursery’s kindergarten will have, in addition to teachers, babysitters
- Christmas bonus goes from Q800 to Q1 thousand
- Christmas basket goes from Q500 to Q750
- School bonus in January of Q1 thousand for those who have children under 18 years of age
- Holiday on October 22 for the union anniversary